Updated: VM and JÅJ possibly heading to Hong Kong

DI met Victor Muller and Jan Åke Jonsson at Arlanda airport (Stockholm) Wednesday evening, outside the check-in counter for Helsinki, possibly a transfer point for further east-bound travel. Both declined to comment on their journey.

It looks to me that DI are speculating about Saab’s existing connections with BAIC. Helsinki happens to be a major hub, so our team could be travelling to any number of destinations (and not necessarily even the same destination…).

Update:ttela.se reports (English translation) that Saab are meeting four potential partners in China. The goal is to license out parts of the technology developed for the Phoenix.

I work at this airport and I’d say it’s way more likely that they are heading to Hong Kong or Beijing than Moscow if they are flying Finnair. Sure it is possible to travel with them to Moscow but it’s way more common to choose SAS, Rossiya or Aeroflot for these travels.

“There is currently intense negotiations with the four Chinese car company, according to sources TTELA. Some of them are large companies. It’s about getting resources to the technology, called Phoenix, which developed the next generation Saab models, including the upcoming new 9-3.”

It seems obvious that Asia and Russia both have unlimited amounts of capital and are eager to make strategic investments / alliances with such a longstanding brand, and interesting engineering group, as Saab. Good luck guys.

Desperate times call for desperate action 😉 Being chinese car company ceo this must be the wet dream of the century. Being able to buy into the future generation platform of one of the (few) car companies in the world (from one of the 7, 8, 10 (or whatever) countries) that have the technical ability to construct a car (bottom up) with top safety, good reliability, scalable and modular (like future volvos and vw) platform and comparable to the german premiums. They can buy themselves a decade (if not more) into the future. This deal (if it happens) is really… Read more »

And it gives the chinese a timeframe of just a couple of years before they can enter the american and european markets with something not being dangerous junk!

Exactly! And once they do, they will sell their non-junk at Chinese prices, making it impossible for Western companies to compete. Saab is basically selling off the future to save the present. Not that the Chinese weren’t going to get there anyway, of course. It’s just a matter of speeding it up a few years.

Vehicle cost is not the only major deciding factor when buying a car. The Korean makes are doing well with lower prices, reliability and long warranties, but hugely more people chose “European” cars (although some of the Korean ones are made in European factories, I think!). This explains why many are willing to pay for the badge on their car. It can only be good for Saab to have alliances with other car manufacturers, and I am sure that was Saab’s long term plan, even before this latest hiccough.

You’re right. At the end of the day the question about unmanageable competition from the Chinese and other low-wage countries is a political one, that should be (but isn’t) handled at the government and EU level, and not something for Saab to tackle. Right now, Saab just has to do whatever they can to stay alive, and worry about the future later.

I do not agree. It is only our (western) illusion, that we are technologically superior and if we keep the lid on out know-how we will keep chinese competition away. they have their own space program – and hugely succesful one – they are not technologically behind. Same as old car brands survived japan invasion in 60s and 70s and korean in 80s and 90s, they will survive chinese car competion in decades to come. I think SAAB is doing very clever thing actually. SAABs future does not have to be “only” car producer. SAAB can be car producer and… Read more »

The difference between Japan/Korea and China is that the former compete on more or less equal terms with the West. If they manage to make cheaper or better cars, then it’s because they’ve done good, which is as it should be. China on the other hand isn’t a democracy, has poor workers’ rights and poor environmental protection laws, and so their companies can produce things much cheaper because they are “cheating”. This is where politics come into it. If the West were serious about human rights and the environment, then all goods consumed in the West should be judged by… Read more »

Börjesson, as I see it, we (the western world) have two choices: Boycott or keep trading. In my mind, trading is an equaliser. The more other societies interact with ours, the more ideas and philosophies will rub off (goes both ways). Keep in mind that China represents about 1/6th of this planet’s population. Considering their massive size, I would have to say they are doing quite well. I strongly doubt they would survive a single day if they adopted the Norwegian or Swedish political model tomorrow. These things take time. China is currently boycotting Norway, and it is hurting Norway… Read more »

this sounds like an update on the lighter side, to me. The fact that VM can leave the epoch center of negotations with various debt holders and fly to Asia to discuss short-term working capital needs tells me that things have lightened up in Sweden.

My hope is that the Chinese buy “know how” and phoenix so Saab can get money enough to survive and be able to pay/forfill there liabilities. So the trip hopefully goes to China and back with a suitcase packed with money and some contracts.

This is the best solution (share costs) supported with moneyed financiers. It gets another income and strengthen research in Trollhättan.

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